Samuel Fagemo leaves Manitoba Moose for Frölunda HC reunion

Manitoba’s most dangerous finisher is gone, and the hole is real. Samuel Fagemo led the Moose with 19 goals in 72 regular-season games last season, then added two more in seven playoff games before signing a three-year deal with Frölunda HC that runs through 2028-29.

That is the kind of production Manitoba does not casually replace. Fagemo finished with 35 points and, for all the scoring touch, his minus-22 rating was the worst on the roster, a reminder of the tradeoff he brought every night: finishing skill at one end, volatility at the other. The Moose signed him expecting NHL possibilities after he arrived from the Winnipeg Jets organization, but he never cracked the big club and spent the full year in the AHL.

Even with the uneven defensive numbers, Fagemo was still the player Manitoba leaned on when it needed a goal. The challenge now is obvious. Take away 19 goals from a single winger and the burden shifts fast, especially for a team that will now need younger Jets prospects to absorb more of the scoring load. There is a difference between replacing minutes and replacing the guy who actually changes the scoreboard.

Frölunda made the move official on May 20, calling it a homecoming after six seasons away. That framing fits Fagemo’s track record there: he broke in with the club as a junior in 2018-19, helped Frölunda win both the CHL and the SM-guld, then returned to North America for a run that included five AHL seasons with the Ontario Reign before his lone year in Manitoba. Frölunda sport director Fredrik Sjöström said the club had chased Fagemo for a long time and was pleased the move finally happened.

The numbers help explain why. Across his AHL career, Fagemo has scored 151 goals in 340 games, a remarkable total for a player who has moved between organizations and leagues. Manitoba previously listed him at 132 goals in 268 AHL games before his Winnipeg signing, and his latest line only pushes the résumé higher. Drafted 50th overall by the Los Angeles Kings in 2019, he has also logged 21 NHL games with three goals and one assist in North America.

For Manitoba, the loss is immediate and specific: a proven scorer is out, and the Moose have to find those goals somewhere else. For Fagemo, the move sends him back to a place where he already won and where he is expected to do more of the heavy lifting in the offensive end.